The US Department of Defense (DoD) is looking to secure and store their R&D data on a blockchain-based system and has outsourced the contract for developing the same to the SIMBA Chain in the form of a Business Innovation Research contract.

In an announcement made on 12th May, the US Department of Defense awarded a $20,000 contract to SIMBA to develop a proof-of-concept based blockchain system for 4.5 million research and design documents and over 4,000 users managed by the DoD.

This isn't the first time the US government has shown interest in blockchain-based systems. In fact, the US government has been actively involved in research, development, and utilization of various blockchain use cases in their departments. Earlier, SIMBA Chain was also tasked with developing a system to help the US Navy secure its communications.

[Related: SIMBA Chain also Partnered with US Air Force in 2019, and again with the US Navy back in 2018 to track Aircraft parts]

The ongoing R&D storage project is being dubbed as ALAMEDA for Authenticity Ledger for Auditable Military Enclaved Data Access and is expected to be completed by June, following with trials would then begin for a period of 5 months.

If the project passes the test phase and proves to be a success then another grant of $1 million could be awarded for SBIR Phase II contract. The phase II would focus on commercialization and creating a Github like interface to control and manage documents within projects.

Phase II’s primary focus would be sharing documents and datasets while ensuring authenticity and integrity. SIMBA would be using its Chain's cloud-based Smart Contract as a Service (SCaaS) platform to develop and deploy different DApps for iOS, Android, and other platforms without the need for any third-party interference.

Joel Neidig, CEO of SIMBA Chain commented on the latest partnership stating the need for a secure and decentralized data storing and monitoring system in this day and age where a ton of sensitive data is exchanged via mobile phones. He explained:

“The DOD, defence contractors, and enterprise-level businesses have benefited from mobile devices and how easy it has become to access and exchange date.

However, the enhanced flow of information represents a significant security risk. Hence the need for sophisticated blockchain solutions that authenticate and document users, eliminate the third party bad actors, and otherwise allow secure direct connections between trusted sources.”

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